Transparent Christian Magazine

Touch me, remind me who I am. Stanley Kunitz

Scripture says, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” If only it was as simple as singing another song, reciting a few oaths, lifting up hands, or even reading his book. These are all fine, but I think he has provided a more direct way, not necessarily an easy way, but one more in character with a God of love. If he has made his home in the human heart, and I suspect he has, there is where I hope to find him. But that means engagement—deep, warm, awkward, meddling, at times foolish, risk-taking engagement with life as it gathers around us. And in a world gone crazy sterilizing itself, a world afraid to touch, a virtual world, a world of pitch and spin, a world of mythmaking, wanton entitlement, and identity confusion, this is not as easy as it sounds.

There is nothing so necessary, so simple, or so sweet as a genuine human touch. And perhaps nothing so troublesome. In spite of what these flattering times may tell us about ourselves, I don’t think we realize just how desperate we are for one another. Our magnets are too strong. The divinity within us is too restless, too denied. If God lives in you, then I long to hear him by the warmth in your voice, to recognize him by the light I see on your face, and the wisdom that governs your thoughts. Where else do I need to look to fellowship with him? And it takes much less effort, and much less time than we first imagined. You and I were fashioned by our creator with love in mind. Like himself, God has made us creatures of community. Heaven is just that close, as close as the next selfless act, the next small measure of kindness, the next soft kiss of fellowship.